It may be Superbowl Sunday, but for those of us who have enjoyed reading, contributing to or editing The Unofficial Apple Weblog it's anything but super. As you all know, our parent company has lowered the curtain on this motley crew, and we are set to officially cease publication on Tuesday of next week.
For me personally, TUAW's finale is surprisingly emotional. I mused on Twitter that the outpouring of positive feedback and gratitude is a bit like surreptitiously attending your own funeral; comments like these from Federico Viticci, Xeni Jardin, Harry McCracken and Rene Ritchie remind me that the work we've done here over the past decade has not gone unappreciated. It's hard to believe that it was more than eight years ago when Laurie Duncan and Scott McNulty first welcomed me aboard as a shiny new blogger; I never could have imagined the wonderful people I'd meet and work with, great products I'd review, or the strange media experiences I'd have.
Recent days have seen far less of me here than I'd have liked, as my day job demanded the bulk of my time and attention. (My entire tenure with the site was as a freelancer, but prior to 2013 my full-time gig was more compatible with my secret identity as a Mac blogger.) With Tuesday's closure, there will be a lot of stories unwritten and reviews undone -- particular apologies to David Sparks, whose great ebook on presentations still sits at the top of my "posts to be written" pile. Still, there was one key appointment at TUAW that I tried to make every week.
For almost seven years of Sundays, when 10 pm Eastern (and 7 pm Pacific, and 5 pm Hawaii time) rolled around, you could find the TUAW team holding forth live on our weekly Talkcast show. From the very first episodes in August of 2007 up to our final broadcast in July of 2014, we tried to connect our enthusiasm for TUAW's coverage with the strong opinions and great information that our audience members brought to bear.
Always an audio-only affair (despite some flirtations with visual media, and the success of our sister TUAW TV Live show hosted by Steve Sande and Shawn "Doc Rock" Boyd), the radio call-in style show featured a rotating team of hosts, a lineup of occasional all-star guests, and the ever-present gallery of readers, listeners and fans who rapidly became a part of the site family. You all rock, and we miss you (which is why Kelly Guimont and I have continued to podcast on The Aftershow).
So, we're going to go around one last time.
Tonight at 10 pm ET, we're doing a live Hangout -- with video this time! -- to cheer all of you and thank you for your years of support. The TUAW TV Live team is also planning a farewell show for Tuesday afternoon, with exact details to be determined, but for tonight we're gonna party like it's 1999!
You can join the Hangout on Air by visiting our G+ Events page, or simply watch via the embedded video below. Can't wait to see you.
